The present invention relates to controllers and communicators for healthcare stations and the like.
Controllers are well known in the healthcare industry to regulate the various control functions associated with modern healthcare stations, such as those found in hospitals, and other similar institutions. Typical control functions include position adjustments for an adjustable bed, nurse call, television, radio, telephone, room lights, reading lights, and other such accessories.
At least some of these control functions are usually regulated by a controller device located near the bed. Examples of such controllers are pillow speakers, pendants, and side rail control modules.
Pillow speakers and pendants, such as the unit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,334 to Burnett, tend to become tangled in the bed or fall onto the floor during use, and thus do not consistently remain at a convenient location to the patient or attendant. As a result, the efficiency of the controller, either as a communicator or as an accessory control device, is greatly diminished. Further, due to size constraints associated with pillow speakers and pendants, such units usually have limited control capacity. Pillow speakers and pendants also are subject to physical abuse and damage as the patient moves in the bed.
Side rail control modules, such as the units disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,183,015 to Drew et al and 3,932,903 to Adams et al experience a drawback insofar as the controllers are not readily accessible or are not fully operative when the side rails or side guards of the bed are lowered. Furthermore, side rail control modules cannot be readily manipulated by the patient when the patient is not positioned in the bed to which the side rails are attached.